Movie review thread...
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[quote name='taniwharugby' timestamp='1335668147' post='283321']<br />
watched Chronicle last night...I liked it, but hard to say why, not original, no big names, alot of 'handycam' type footage....just a pretty decent film about 3 teens who stumble onto a mysterious object that gives them powers...<br />
[/quote]Watched it too. Liked it as well. It is one of the better "found footage" type films I have seen in a while. -
Finally got around to seeing Children of Men last night. Not usually a fan of Clive Owen's monotone acting, but he was made for this film. It's a gritty sci film, in a similar vein to Bladerunner, District 9 and 28 Days later. Set in England in 2027, in a world where every woman is infertile and immigrants are vilified and forced into prison ghettos, Owen has to help protect a pregnant immigrant girl. Never mind the story though, because the action and cinematography are jaw dropping. One single-shot action scene towards the end is absolutely amazing. Definitely one of the best movies I've seen in a while. Can't believe I missed it when it came out in cinemas.
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[quote name='Munter' timestamp='1335715092' post='283477']<br />
Finally got around to seeing Children of Men last night. Not usually a fan of Clive Owen's monotone acting, but he was made for this film. It's a gritty sci film, in a similar vein to Bladerunner, District 9 and 28 Days later. Set in England in 2027, in a world where every woman is infertile and immigrants are vilified and forced into prison ghettos, Owen has to help protect a pregnant immigrant girl. Never mind the story though, because the action and cinematography are jaw dropping. One single-shot action scene towards the end is absolutely amazing. Definitely one of the best movies I've seen in a while. Can't believe I missed it when it came out in cinemas.<br />
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I saw it a couple times on the big screen - the 2nd time to analyze that enormously complicated single-take. I really liked it a lot, but was thoroughly bemused by the Pink Floyd-isms relating to the Michael Caine character, living at the Battersea Power Station -- it was a serious film, yet I kept wondering what the inside-joke was. -
[quote name='red terror' timestamp='1335773435' post='283605'] I saw it a couple times on the big screen - the 2nd time to analyze that enormously complicated single-take. I really liked it a lot, but was thoroughly bemused by the Pink Floyd-isms relating to the Michael Caine character, living at the Battersea Power Station -- it was a serious film, yet I kept wondering what the inside-joke was. [/quote]<br />
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I think that was just a quirky joke, having the flying pig balloon outside to re-create the cover of 'Animals'<br />
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Get the DVD with the extras. There is a good section on how they filmed that long sequence of the ambush when they are in the car. It was quite a feat to do in one take. -
[quote name='Crucial' timestamp='1335780899' post='283625']<br />
I think that was just a quirky joke, having the flying pig balloon outside to re-create the cover of 'Animals'<br />
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Get the DVD with the extras. There is a good section on how they filmed that long sequence of the ambush when they are in the car. It was quite a feat to do in one take.<br />
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I've not actually seen the film since it's cinema release, I'll have to watch the DVD some day. I seem to recall there were a few other subtle Floydisms too. There was also "In the Court of the Crimson King," so I was guessing Cuaron was an old Prog Rocker looking for gratuitous opportunities to trawl topographic oceans.<br />
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Re: the long take, it is superb; with the smaller mobility and automation of digital movie cameras, I suspect we'll be seeing a lot more, and in-fact, my mind is a bit hazy recollecting, but I've seen something in the past year that (to me) clearly looked like it referenced that CoM shot. -
There's some useful info on Wikipedia about the making of the film. Interesting that they got to film that terrorist bomb scene on Fleet Street just a month after the 2005 tube and bus bombings. <br />
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I am here: http://tapatalk.com/map.php?fjluu5<br /> -
Watched a few for the first time recently:<br />
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Limitless: Bradley Cooper is an excellent role-model for your childeren as he plays a no-hope loser who takes a fuck load of drugs and becomes not only really popular and laid, but fucking President of the United States. Nothing bad happens to him. Moral: Drugs make you awesome without consaquence.<br />
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The Ides of March: A political something where George Clooney runs for president (this bit will actually happen) and Ryan Gosling is a very smart young man who becomes progressively stupider as the movie progresses. By the end he is border-line retarded.<br />
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Moneyball: Washed out ex-player runs a Major League baseball team on the cheap, makes the play-offs, loses to a team that spent a fuck-ton of money. Changes the way the team is selected based on the maths of a fat nerd to pick a competitive team for peanuts. Makes play-offs. Loses, to a team that spent a fuck-ton of money (but this is ok because its not the New York Yankees). Nothing changes.<br />
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The Lincoln Lawyer. Matt McConaughey is a defense lawyer that makes a fuckload of money by representing bad guys. A bad guy tries to screw him over, but he uses equally bad guys to do equally bad things. Moral: No matter how evil you think you are, your Lawyer is most probably worse. -
Cabin in the woods. Feels like a horror film, but more laughs than scares. Another Josh Whedon flick released at the same time as his "Avengers." This has supposedly been on the shelf since 2010. Quirky, suspenseful, fantastical, and kinda silly. [spoiler]Big governmental conspiracy to slaughter totemic teenagers (i.e. whore, fool, athlete, intellect, virgin) as annual sacrifices to appease underworld ancient demons (or something like that).[/spoiler] 7/10
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Really enjoyed Avengers. Thought that Weedon di a good job of encorporating humour and giving all of the characters screen time. I guess with the success we're going to see a few more super hero movies and may even see a Justice League movie once the Dark Knight Returns is done.<br />
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Thought that the following was pretty funny.<br />
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[b]Avengers' adoption joke falls flat[/b]<br />
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The [url="http://www.change.org/petitions/marvel-comics-marvel-comics-apologize-to-adoption-community"]petition[/url], which has 247 signatures, is over a line muttered by Chris Hemsworth's character Thor, after Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow tells him his brother Loki - a villain - has killed "80 people in two days".<br />
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Thor replies: "He's adopted."<br />
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[url="http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10805745"]http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10805745[/url]<br />
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I always wonder whether these people are really offended - in which case life must be a never-ending series of hurt feelings over minutiae - or whether they're scanning the world with eager eyes hoping for the opportunity to play the victim on behalf of those they see as downtrodden. -
[quote name='scruffy-lookin' timestamp='1336972573' post='286010']<br />
I always wonder whether these people are really offended ...<br />
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Many people are EAGER to be offended and actually go out of their way to get that satisfaction fulfilled. -
I watched the funniest of all the 80s comedies the other night in Eddie Murphy's brilliant "Coming to America" it's so fucking good. While the main story is great, Murphy and Arsenio Hall's other characters are some of the best parts, the barbershop guys, Reverend Brown, Randy Watson. It's all so good. Eric La Salle's greasy Daryll with his "Soul Glow" is awesome as well.<br />
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Change of pace from the usual reviews here but caught "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" last week and thoroughly enjoyed it.<br />
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Stellar cast of British character actors - Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson, Bill Nighy, Penelope Wilton, Maggie Smith, Celia Imre and Dev Patel (Slum Dog Millionaires)<br />
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Just a good old fashioned comedy of manners. Gentle, quiry humour incredibly well acted and some gentle if poignant social observations. Set looks ravishing too. India at its most strikingly exuberant and exotic.<br />
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Thoroughly enjoyed it.<br />
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[b]Warning: [/b]No tits, bums, explosions, zombies, blood, bile or fart jokes. -
Finally got to see The Avangers on the weekend . Great film , I will need to see it in 2D so I can take in more of the picture . The Hulk kicks arse .
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Get the Gringo; MEl Gibson<br />
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Gibson has just stolen a bunch of cash and is making for the Mexican Border in hot pursuit by American Authorities and crashes through the Border. Normally, the Federales would hand him back, but these ones decide to take the money and through Gibson in Prison.<br />
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NOt a bad film, bit of action, they try at a story line but fairly obvious where its heading, overall an hour and a half that isnt wasted, but wont sit atop any must watch lists. -
The Green Hornet.<br />
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quite lame really, the car kicks arse, but the rest of the plot is quite crap & dull. I'd give it a 4/10.<br />
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Pineapple Express<br />
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Fell asleep. I thought I was a huge Rogan fan, but after these 2, I'm questioning myself. 4/10<br />
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The Iron Lady.<br />
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Fell asleep. Not at all what I wanted to see. Think tried to be too arty with plot jumping aorund - a nice story chronicling Thatchers life would have been suffice. Meryl Streep though, she is one hell of an actor. Very impressive. Moive - 3/10. Streep - 11/10. -
[quote name='Tim' timestamp='1337592384' post='287210']<br />
Pineapple Express was excellent. Including its delightful transformation into a lethal weapon parody.<br />
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Agreed. I thought it was one of the best action-comedies in years. Up there with Bulletproof and this years 21 Jump Street. -
The trailer for the new version of The Great Gatsby has hit the youtube.<br />
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I dunno. It looks fantastical. (It is Luhrmann.) I've mentioned in the book thread how much I like the novel, I've read it several times over the past 30-or-so years. The visual palette doesn't seem quite right for the novel ('though I am perhaps a little too married to the Redford early-70s version, mostly a failure, but the distinctive dreamy look of that film felt sorta right), and the inevitable musical soundtrack which punctuates most of Luhrmann's films could blow monkeys. (It seems criminally insane to me to reject music from the "Jazz Age" in favour of contemporary songs.) But hey, it's Fitzgerald, it's a spectacle, it's in 3D, I'll doubtlessly see it.<br />
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Interesting to compare this trailer to the trailer of the 1926 version (starring Warner Baxter and William Powell) and according to the youtube notes, it's the only footage of that version known to exist...<br />
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Safehouse - an all action thriller with plenty of shooting, good body count, car chases, fist fighting...Denzel Washington, Ryan Reynolds, Brendon Gleeson<br />
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Arent gonna be too many surprises in the storyline, but the action was enough to keep me watching.
